LB 

2806 
D29c 


UCATION    FOR 
DEMOCRACY 


MACK    DAVIS 


THE  LIBRARY 
OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


IN  MEMORY  OF 

Harry  Lang 

given  by 
Naomi  Lang 


EDUCATION    FOR 
DEMOCRACY 


BY 
ALICE    DAVIS 


oe 


Ube  Tknlcfterbocfter  press 

NEW  YORK 
1919 


Copyright,   1919 

BY 

ALICE    DAVIS 


P-^-ie 


EDUCATION  FOR  DEMOCRACY 


Education  fundamentally  and  vitally  affects 
every  individual  member  of  the  state.  It  is  the 
most  important  human  problem,  having  a  direct 
bearing  upon  all  the  interrelated  and  complicated 
activities  incident  to  every  phase  of  social  inter- 
course. In  a  general  way,  there  is  practically 
universal  agreement  as  to  the  necessity  for  what 
is  called  the  education  of  youth,  although  a  wide 
diversity  of  opinion  exists  concerning  the  method 
or  methods  to  be  adopted,  the  length  of  time  neces- 
sary for  the  completion  of  a  given  course  of  in- 
struction, what  constitutes  adequate  educational 
preparation,  and  various  other  related  questions. 
Almost  everyone  believes  that  children  should  at- 
tend school  a  certain  number  of  hours  a  day  for 
a  period  of  years.  The  progress  made  in  the  acqui- 
sition of  knowledge  through  such  school  attend- 
ance is  supposed  to  be  more  or  less  accurately 
registered  by  periodical  examinations,  and  the 
attainment  of  a  recognized  standard  of  proficiency 
regularly  attested  by  formal  reports,  certificates, 
and  diplomas.     This  routine  attendance  at  school 

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1928S77 


marked  by  measured  results  at  regular  intervals 
is  quite  commonly  accepted  as  a  necessary  pre- 
liminary to  the  youth's  entrance  upon  a  career — 
professional,  business,  or  industrial.  The  length 
of  time  spent  at  school  and  the  subjects  studied 
are  determined  largely  by  the  economic  condition 
of  the  parents,  and  the  state  of  public  sentiment 
as  crystallized  into  law  governing  these  matters. 
The  tendency  toward  the  general  enactment  of 
compulsory  education  legislation  indicates  a  health- 
ful and  steadily  increasing  interest  in  the  subject, 
and  a  recognition  of  its  transcendent  importance. 

The  work  selected  by  the  youth  after  leaving 
school  depends  partly  upon  personal  inclination, 
mainly  upon  the  kinds  of  positions  to  be  filled, 
the  remuneration  attached  thereto,  the  possibility 
of  securing,  and  the  ability  to  perform  the  work. 

This  rule  of  action  is  according  to  traditional 
educational  formula,  and  generally  accepted  con- 
ventions. The  plan  is  not  wholly  devoid  of  merit 
since  it  recognizes,  however  vaguely  and  imper- 
fectly, the  necessity  for  training  the  young.  It 
is  not  impossible  that  some  genuine  teachers  may 
find  their  way  into  the  system  provided  for  the 
execution  of  this  program,  and  that  some  real 
educational  work  may  be  done.  But  this  scheme 
has  one  fundamental  defect,  so  glaring  that  it 
should  challenge  the  attention  of  the  most  casual, 
the  most  superficial  observer,  and  that  is  that 
evqn  in  its  most  elementary  provisions,  this  program 
does  not  yet  include  all  children.  There  are  still 
many  who  cannot  read  and  write,  who  thus  lack 

4 


the  rudiments  of  acquisition  and  expression,  and 
who  also  receive  no  systematic  technical  nor 
industrial  training.  Just  what  is  to  be  expected 
of  such  children,  what  they  are  to  do,  what  they 
are  to  be,  doesn't  seem  to  be  the  concern  of  ajiy 
one.  They  are  wholly  without  educational  in- 
heritance of  the  regular  kind.  The  World  War 
has  just  revealed  with  startling  clearness  the 
impossible  situation  along  this  line. 

But  apart  from  this  not  inconsiderable  per- 
centage of  real  illiterates,  by  far  the  larger  number 
of  the  children  are  given  extremely  meager  school 
facilities,  obtain  the  very  slightest  educational 
equipment.  Their  time  spent  in  school  is  entirely 
too  short,  and  often  it  is  not  utilized  most  advan- 
tageously. The  small  number  that  remain,  have 
unlimited  advantages  so  far  as  money  can  supply 
them  for  an  indefinite  period  of  time.  From  this 
inequality  in  educational  opportunity  for  children, 
it  is  clear  that  from  the  standpoint  of  human 
equality  and  preparation  for  Democratic  citizen- 
ship, "the  traditional  educational  system  reaches 
a  very  low  standard. 

Indeed,  with  its  present  organization,  aim,  and 
equipment  of  teachers,  the  school  system  would 
be  extremely  defective  even  though  every  indi- 
vidual child  enjoyed  the  advantages  which  the 
smallest  number  now  possess.  In  organization, 
the  public  school  system  follows  the  military  and 
industrial  plan  with  its  various  grades  of  super- 
visory officials.  In  aim,  there  is  lack  of  vision, 
and  an  imperfect  understanding  of  purpose.     The 

5 


haphazard  equipment  of  teachers  is  too  glaring 
to  need  comment.  Our  educational  system  there- 
fore must  be  characterized  as  unprogressive, 
antiquated,  fundamentally  undemocratic,  and 
inadequate. 

The  most  important  human  problem  is  educa- 
tion. This  cannot  be  made  too  emphatic.  But 
what  is  education?  What  are  its  functions? 
What  is  its  scope?  In  what  manner  and  to  what 
extent  is  it  to  affect  the  child  as  an  individual 
social  unit?  What  should  be  its  methods?  How 
is  it  to  influence  the  whole  organized  group,  the 
entire  citizen  body  which  we  call  the  state  ?  What 
are  its  proper  agencies? 

Education  we  may  call  the  instruction  and  the 
training  which  help  to  develop  the  latent  possibili- 
ties of  the  child  for  good,  and  to  modify,  suppress, 
eliminate  those  qualities  which  are  evil  in  their 
nature.  Of  course  education  also  connotes  teach- 
ing, explanation,  imparting  knowledge,  on  the 
part  of  the  teacher,  and  acquisition  of  knowledge 
by  the  child.  But  this  teaching  and  learning, 
while  important  and  necessary,  are  an  extremely 
small  part  of  true  education.  One  may  possess 
a  vast  knowledge  of  facts,  covering  a  wide  range 
of  subjects,  and  be  very  improperly,  very  super- 
ficially and  poorly  educated.  An  essential  factor 
in  education  is  the  development  of  the  power  to 
think,  of  the  ability  to  solve  all  problems  which 
may  arise  out  of  one's  intricate  relations  as  a  social 
unit.  Mental  poise  and  a  sane  philosophy  of  life 
must  also  come  through  educational  processes. 

6 


But  while  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  is  by 
no  means  the  whole  of  education,  it  is  a  great 
mistake  to  minimize  the  importance  of  knowledge. 
The  present  tendency  to  provide  the  most  meager 
educational  advantages  for  the  apparently  dull 
or  stupid  child,  and  to  substitute  a  superficial 
hodgepodge  called  preparation  for  social  service 
is  pernicious  and  most  reprehensible.  Knowl- 
edge, profound  and  varied,  is  not  only  desirable, 
but  absolutely  necessary  in  the  proper  equipment 
of  the  child.  The  results  of  ignorant  bungling 
along  various  lines,  including  diplomacy  and  state- 
craft are  sufificiently  obvious  and  numerous  to 
emphasize  the  necessity  for  the  possession  of  vast 
knowledge.  Its  importance  cannot  be  overesti- 
mated. Furthermore  it  seems  reasonable  to 
suppose  that  the  mental  stimulus  required  in  the 
acquisition  of  knowledge  is  in  itself  a  favorable 
factor  in  educational  development. 

Nevertheless,  the  fact  remains  that  education 
includes  much  more  than  knowledge,  even  the 
most  comprehensive.  It  connotes  a  cultivated 
mental  attitude,  discrimination,  and  stimulated 
aesthetic  sense.  Failure  to  surround  children 
with  influences  which  produce  these  results  is 
failure  in  educational  essentials. 

The  function  of  education  is  to  develop  the 
child  to  the  fullest  possible  extent  as  an  individual 
and  as  a  social  unit  in  the  broadest  way.  This 
means  ideal  democratic  citizenship,  citizenship 
for  a  democracy,  and  surely  we  need  not  even 
consider  any  other  form  of  government  within  the 

7 


range  of  possibility,  as  genuine  universal  education 
precludes  the  possibility  of  the  existence  of  any 
other  form.  No  one  truly  educated  wishes  to 
possess  any  kind  of  advantage  at  the  expense  of 
another,  and  only  a  democratic  form  of  govern- 
ment makes  possible  both  the  highest  form  of 
individualism  and  genuine  altruism. 

In  educational  v/ork,  naturally  it  is  important 
that  the  method  adopted,  be  in  harmony  with  the 
aim  and  purpose  of  education.  It  is  necessar>^ 
therefore,  to  guard  carefully  against  the  adoption 
of  any  plan  which  tends  in  the  slightest  degree  to 
nullify  the  primary  purpose.  This  makes  school 
organization  a  vitally  important  problem.  Our 
present  public  school  plan  of  organization  is  a 
regular  hierarchy  and  embodies  the  factory 
supervisory  feature. 

It  must  be  understood  that  the  teacher  is  the 
most  important  factor  in  any  educational  system. 
This  is  readily  admitted  verbally,  and  glowing 
encomiums  are  pronounced  upon  teachers  in  lieu 
of  adequate  salary  and  professional  recognition, 
but  the  vicious  plan  of  supervision  militates  seri- 
ously against  the  influence  of  teachers,  and  impairs 
irreparably  their  usefulness  by  robbing  them  of 
self-confidence  and  independence  of  action. 

The  long  overdue  revolution  in  school  organiza- 
tion must  apparently  await  the  awakening  of  the 
great  mass  of  teachers,  a  slow  movement,  for  teach- 
ers as  a  class  are  extremely  conservative.  They  ac- 
cept what  comes  in  the  form  of  school  regulations, 
and  aside  from  a  certain  amount  of  grumbling 

8 


about  details  and  sporadic  ebullition  of  indignation 
behind  closed  doors,  they  jog  placidly  along  the 
beaten  educational  pathway,  quite  oblivious  to 
abstacles  in  the  road,  and  unconcerned  about  their 
removal.  Adherence  to  form,  and  daily  routine 
drudgery  are  calmly  accepted  as  concomitants 
of  the  educational  process. 

Teachers  as  a  group  are  docile,  even  submissive, 
to  an  alarming  extent.  This  is  probably  due  pri- 
marily to  the  industrial  plan  of  school  organiza- 
tion, to  the  factory-boss  type  of  supervision.  It 
seems  well-nigh  impossible  to  believe  that  mem- 
bers of  the  supervisory  force  have  not  discovered 
the  fatal  defects  of  this  system.  Skepticism  con- 
cerning their  inexplicable  failure  to  do  so  is  natural 
and  unavoidable,  and  we  can  only  escape  the 
necessity  for  impugning  their  good  faith  by  the 
conviction  that  they  are  the  victims  professionally 
of  the  system  by  which  they  profit  pecuniarily. 
If  honestly  they  have  never  been  impelled  to 
question  the  merits  of  the  factory  type  of  school 
organization,  this  failure  constitutes  in  itself  the 
most  conclusive  indictment  of  the  traditional 
pernicious  mechanical  system. 

The  first  essential  in  educational  reform  is  the 
abolishment  of  the  supervisory  system,  and  from 
this  would  naturally  follow  the  equalization  of 
salaries  and  positions  for  the  whole  teaching  corps. 
The  far-reaching  importance  of  this  reform  can 
be  realized  only  when  we  observe  the  injustice 
and  unreasonableness  involved  in  the  operation 
of  the  existing  supervisory  system.     Very  often 

9 


some  grade  of  supervisor  inspects  the  work  of 
teachers  in  perhaps  a  dozen  different  departments, 
the  teachers  in  all  departments  having  specialized 
in  their  own  subjects,  and  the  supervisor  having 
had  special  training  in  not  more  than  one  subject, 
possibly  in  none  at  all.  Supposing  him  to  have 
had  most  excellent  training  in  one  subject  only, 
surely  that  does  not  qualify  him  to  judge  the 
character  of  the  work  in  eleven  other  different 
departments,  or  in  one  other.  Then  it  is  obvi- 
ously unjust  to  the  teachers  and  to  the  public 
who  defray  the  expense  to  pay  supervisory  officials 
a  salary  ranging  from  two  to  ten  times  as  much 
as  that  of  the  teachers  equally  qualified  for  their 
particular  line  of  work.  The  archaic  and  silly 
methods  generally  employed  by  the  supervisor 
in  inspecting  a  teacher's  work,  tend  only  to  em- 
phasize the  ridiculousness  of  the  judgment  of  the 
work  as  indicated  by  the  rating  given  the  teacher. 
Very  often  the  supervisor  reaches  his  conclusion 
concerning  the  character  of  the  teacher's  work 
by  spending  a  few  moments  in  the  classroom 
listening  to  questions,  answers,  and  explanations. 
Through  ignorance  of  the  subject,  or  lack  of  fa- 
miliarity with  the  particular  phase  of  the  matter 
under  discussion,  he  may  be  wholly  unqualified 
to  arrive  at  an  intelligent  conclusion  respecting 
the  merits  of  the  work  done.  Beside  he  is  likely 
to  leave  out  of  account  factors  which  materially 
affect  the  situation.  Not  infrequently  the  sub- 
ject matter  of  a  given  lesson  does  not  lend  itself 
to  anything  in  the  nature   of  spectacular   eluci- 

lO 


dation,  or  even  impressively  logical  treatment. 
Again  there  are  days  when  meteorological  condi- 
tions affect  pupils  to  such  an  extent  that  the 
teacher  can  with  the  greatest  effort  only  partly 
counteract  the  adverse  influence.  Some  days 
the  teacher  is  physically  or  mentally  quite  in- 
capacitated temporarily  for  even  approximately 
her  best  work.  It  may  be  said  that  on  such  occa- 
sions she  should  not  be  in  the  classroom,  but  the 
reply  to  that  objection  is  that  the  pupils  are 
much  less  likely  to  suffer  from  her  presence  than 
they  are  by  being  taught  by  a  substitute,  and  in 
justice  to  the  teacher  it  must  be  noted  that  she, 
herself,  may  not  be  conscious  of  the  handicap, 
while  the  effect  may  be  very  apparent  to  an 
observer.  It  requires  a  very  judicially  minded, 
sane,  and  honest,  clear-thinking  person  to  properly 
estimate  the  possible  result  of  these  various  ele- 
ments in  combination  or  singly,  and  the  experi- 
ence of  teachers  does  not  indicate  the  possession 
of  such  attributes  by  the  most  usual  type  of 
supervisor. 

Human  inertia,  conservatism,  the  tendency  to 
preserve  existing  institutions,  to  uphold  the  estab- 
lished order  is  nowhere  more  in  evidence  than  in 
the  retention  of  the  supervisory  system  in  the 
public  schools.  Originally,  when  educational  fa- 
cilities were  very  meager,  the  theory  underlying 
supervision  probably  was  that  the  supervising 
teacher  might  help  the  young,  inexperienced,  and 
poorly  equipped  teacher  to  do  better  work  by 
kindly  suggestion  and  friendly  counsel.     As   the 

II 


public  school  system  expanded,  the  supervisory 
feature  became  fixed,  partly  for  the  reason  just 
given,  and  largely  because  some  regular  form  of 
organization  being  thought  necessary,  the  familiar 
industrial  and  military  type  was  used  as  a  model 
somewhat  unconsciously,  perhaps,  or  at  least 
without  recognition  of  the  ultimately  evil  outcome. 
If,  however,  a  rational  basis  for  supervision  once 
existed,  it  has  been  eliminated  by  changed  con- 
ditions. It  is  no  longer  necessary  to  employ 
poorly  prepared  teachers.  Now  there  are  ade- 
quate facilities  for  the  proper  education  of  teach- 
ers, or  if  there  are  not,  they  may  easily  be  enlarged. 
There  are  now  definite  requirements  which  the 
prospective  teacher  must  meet  before  receiving 
an  appointment.  If  these  requirements  are  not 
sufficiently  high,  they  may  be  increased,  the  teach- 
ing standard  may  be  indefinitely  raised.  It  is 
doubtless  true,  lamentably  true,  that  the  institu- 
tions of  learning  where  men  and  women  are 
trained  for  teaching  do  not  provide  the  best 
atmosphere  for  the  purpose,  do  not  supply  ideal 
surroundings  for  philosophical  discipline,  but  in 
these  same  institutions  are  trained  the  supervising 
force,  and  the  facilities  are  as  good  for  one  group 
as  for  the  other,  the  defects  no  more  marked  for 
teachers  than  for  supervisors.  The  educational 
facilities  are  the  same  for  both. 

The  evils  of  the  supervisory  system  are  numer- 
ous and  extreme.  It  tends  to  repress  initiative 
in  both  teachers  and  pupils,  and  develops  in  both 
the  habit  of  accepting  suggestions   and  require- 

12 


ments  without  thinking  or  reasoning  about  them, 
thus  preventing  the  highest  development  of  the 
individual  which  must  come  through  useful  social 
expression.  It  tends  to  create  a  teaching  level 
of  mediocre  uniformity,  and  to  cause  school  work 
to  degenerate  into  spiritless,  routine  drudgery. 
By  repressing  socially  directed  self-expression  of 
the  individual,  this  system  withholds  from  the 
state  a  potential  dynamic  force,  vitally  important, 
and  indispensable  in  the  attainment  of  ideal 
democracy.  The  system  is  cumbersome,  expen- 
sive, undemocratic,  unethical,  and  unprofessional. 

Thinking  teachers  must  have  long  since  be- 
come convinced  that  the  scheme  of  organization 
for  industrial  corporations  forms  a  most  unsatis- 
factory model  for  educational  institutions.  They 
know  that  it  has  been  demonstrated  to  be  a  hope- 
less failure,  that  it  does  not  secure  even  approxi- 
mately best  educational  results,  that  it  makes 
inevitable  vast  human  waste  through  failure  to 
obtain  the  highest  achievement  on  the  part  of 
both  teachers  and  pupils,  that  it  does  not  and 
cannot  provide  the  environment  for  proper  charac- 
ter development,  nor  the  requisite  training  for 
alert,  aggressive,  able  citizenship. 

Under  this  system  the  best  qualified  teachers 
are  not  likely  to  gain  promotion  in  position,  nor 
advance  in  salary,  for  perfectly  obvious  reasons. 
Such  a  system  places  a  premium  upon  unquestion- 
ing compliance  with  rules  and  regulations  imposed 
by  the  supervisory  agencies,  it  encourages  unrea- 
soning   acceptance    of    the   supervisor's    dictums. 

13 


Teachers  who  find  it  possible  to  adapt  themselves 
to  this  routine,  treadmill,  devitalized  school 
mechanism  are  those  who  in  time  become  members 
of  the  supervising  stafT,  and  continue  the  dead- 
ening school  process.  It  is  therefore  inevitable 
that  the  rules  governing  the  various  school  activi- 
ties of  the  teaching  corps  are  made  and  enforced 
by  the  most  poorly  equipped  of  all  the  teaching 
force. 

Such  teachers  have  carefully  avoided  anything 
remotely  resembling  independent  thinking.  They 
have  solicitously  refrained  from  the  slightest 
move  tending  toward  friction  in  the  smoothly 
running  machinery.  Cases  of  glaring  injustice 
and  downright  stupidity  affecting  both  pupils 
and  teachers,  they  refer  to  as  the  business  of 
"our  superiors."  Needless  to  say  there  is  no 
esprit  de  corps,  under  such  conditions.  There 
can  be  no  animation  in  a  machine.  It  is  marvelous 
that  teachers  who  understand  how  seriously 
educational  work  is  handicapped  by  such  a  system 
can  maintain  their  self-respect  without  opposing 
it.  They  do  not  seem  to  realize  the  plain  truth 
that  failure  to  combat  a  recognized  evil  is  to 
tacitly  approve  it,  nor  do  they  apparently  com- 
prehend the  equally  simple  fact  that  acquiescence 
in  whatever  deviates  from  moral  rectitude  pre- 
vents the  development  of  moral  liber,  and  renders 
impossible  the  growth  of  vigorous  character 
components. 

Teachers  who  recognize  and  admit  the  failure 
and  viciousness  of  the  supervisory  system,   and 

14 


there  are  many  such,  and  yet  permit  themselves 
to  drift  with  the  current  of  tradition,  either 
because  they  have  not  been  able  to  formulate 
what  seems  to  them  a  satisfactory  working  plan, 
or  because  they  are  too  indifferent  to  attempt 
to  do  so,  are  living  illustrations  of  the  unethical 
and  unprofessional  callousness  which  this  vicious 
system  produces  in  its  victims. 

No  great  acumen  is  required  to  understand  that 
school  supervision  necessarily  militates  against 
the  recognition  of  teaching  as  a  profession,  that 
it  tends  to  keep  down  salaries  below  a  proper 
standard  of  living,  for  the  great  body  of  teachers. 
There  is  no  profession  whose  members  are  super- 
vised by  one  another  in  the  performance  of  their 
duties.  Such  a  condition  is  unthinkable.  It  is 
astonishing  that  the  expensive  uselessness  of 
supervision  has  not  impressed  boards  of  education, 
but  unfortunately  boards  of  education  are  in- 
clined to  leave  academic  questions  to  be  settled 
by  their  "educational  experts,"  who  are  members 
of  the  highest  grade  of  the  supervising  hierarchy 
and  the  chief  supporters  of  the  system. 

The  expensiveness  does  not  consist  simply  or 
wholly  in  the  relatively  high  salaries  paid  the 
supervising  officials  but  equally  in  the  extremely 
low  and  inadequate  salaries  given  to  the  large 
body  of  teachers.  Nothing  is  so  costly  as  in- 
justice, and  the  inequality  in  teachers'  remunera- 
tion is  notoriously  unjust.  Those  who  really 
teach,  who  do  the  hard  work,  receive  the  smallest 
compensation,    and    this    inevitably    affects,    ad- 


versely  the  morale  of  the  teaching  corps.  That 
supervision  is  useless  one  can  readily  understand 
by  observing  its  operation.  Supervisors  report 
upon  the  work  of  teachers  in  the  form  of  some 
sort  of  rating.  This  report  simply  registers  the 
supervisor's  judgment  of  the  character  of  the 
teacher's  work.  It  does  not  change  the  work. 
If  the  teacher's  service  is  of  a  high  grade,  what 
benefit  accrues  to  her  or  to  her  pupils  by  having 
the  fact  recorded?  If  the  service  rendered  is 
poor  how  is  the  teacher  helped  by  a  statement  to 
that  effect?  The  supervisor's  dictum  does  not 
improve  the  teaching,  it  serves  only  to  indicate 
his  estimate  of  the  teacher's  ability  in  the  per- 
formance of  her  work.  If  her  achievement  is 
good,  it  remains  good,  if  inferior,  it  remains  so. 
This  being  true,  of  what  possible  value  is  the  rating 
given  the  teacher  by  the  supervisor?  It  may  be 
objected  that  this  statement  of  the  case  is  not 
correct,  that  the  supervisor  in  his  visits  to  the 
teacher,  makes  helpful  criticism  which  results  in 
improved  work.  That  may  be  the  theory  ex- 
pounded by  the  supervising  force,  but  those  who 
doubt  the  accuracy  of  the  above  account  are 
referred  to  the  testimony  of  teachers.  A  system 
which  is  both  expensive  and  useless  cannot  be 
reasonably  commended,  but  the  worst  features  of 
supervision  are  yet  to  be  noticed. 

It  is  understood,  of  course,  that  no  one's  judg- 
ment is  infallible,  and  this  is  true  when  he  is 
impelled  by  the  best  motive,  when  he  honestly 
desires  to  be  absolutely  just.     Now,  let  us  suppose 

1 6 


that  in  a  given  case  the  supervisor's  opinion  is 
so  clearly  erroneous  that  the  teacher  concerned 
appeals  to  the  next  higher  grade  of  official.  It  is 
probable,  almost  certain,  in  such  a  case  that  the 
teacher  will  secure  slight  consideration,  and  no 
redress,  and  that  in  the  future  she  will  have  to 
count  upon  the  lasting  enmity  of  both  officials. 
Supervising  officials  of  all  grades  generally  sup- 
port one  another  upon  the  principle,  presumably, 
that  if  they  do  not  "hang  together  they  will  hang 
separately."  If  the  teacher  decides  to  appeal  to 
the  board  of  education,  the  probability  is  that 
the  supervisors  will  score  heavily,  for  boards  of 
education  unhappily  have  not  yet  fathomed  the 
reason  for  the  cohesive  tendency  of  educational 
"experts,"  nor  have  they  yet  learned  to  appre- 
ciate the  extremely  unpleasant  position  of  the 
teacher  who  has  the  temerity  to  question  the 
wisdom  and  integrity  of  a  supervising  official. 
The  narrowness,  pettiness,  and  vindictiveness, 
the  capacity  for  injustice  which  characterize  men 
and  women  holding  supervisory  positions  are 
well-nigh  incredible  to  the  uninitiated.  Cham- 
pions of  the  supervisory  system  may  assert  that 
what  has  been  stated  here  is  simply  an  arraign- 
ment of  individuals,  of  people  who  secure  positions 
which  they  are  totally  unqualified  to  fill,  that 
such  persons  are  unfortunate  accidents  which 
human  foresight  cannot  altogether  prevent.  Now 
it  may  be  readily  conceded  that  this  point  of  view 
is  entitled  to  consideration,  and  it  must  be  frankly 
admitted  that  some  people  holding  supervisory 


positions  are  less  reprehensible  than  others.  But 
the  policy  of  school  supervision  is  essentially  erro- 
neous, and  inherently  inadaptable  to  a  system  of 
democratic  education.  It  unavoidably  suggests 
and  resembles  political  autocracy,  and  industrial 
bossism.  There  is  no  place  for  official  grade  in 
the  work  of  teaching  which  should  be  a  profession. 
Supervision  renders  practically  impossible  inde- 
pendent thought  and  action  in  the  classroom.  It 
subordinates  initiative  to  routine.  It  tends  to 
uniformity  in  method  which  means  inequality 
in  achievement  as  no  two  people  do  the  same 
thing  in  the  same  way,  naturally,  and  with  equal 
results.  The  system  of  supervision  superinduces 
in  the  teacher  a  state  of  nervousness  which  impairs 
her  physical  and  mental  vitality.  It  often  causes 
a  complete  collapse  in  teachers  at  a  period  when, 
taught  by  experience,  they  should  have  attained 
the  very  acme  of  efficiency.  It  prevents  the 
liberation  of  educational  oxygen  and  creates  a 
stifling  atmosphere  in  which  neither  teacher  nor 
pupil  is  capable  of  the  greatest  effort  or  the  highest 
achievement.  The  supervisory  system  predicates 
inequality  instead  of  lack  of  identity.  Its  effect 
upon  the  pupils  whose  highest  welfare  is,  of  course, 
the  preliminary  consideration,  is  distinctly  bad. 
It  tends  to  create  distrust  of  teachers,  their  ability 
or  integrity,  and  to  lessen  the  respect  and  esteem 
which  pupils  spontaneously  entertain  for  their 
instructors.  The  range  of  possible  injury  along 
this  line  is  great,  culminating  in  the  case  of  teach- 
ers  who   are  actually  being  persecuted  by  super- 

i8 


visors,  a  condition  which  not  infrequently  obtains. 
Supervision  connotes  interminable  red  tape,  and 
an  exasperating  waste  of  time  and  energy  in  the 
compilation  of  meaningless  statistics.  It  places 
a  premium  upon  unintelligent  action,  upon  un- 
thinking compliance  with  regulations  imposed 
by  the  supervising  officials.  It  tends  to  divest 
teachers  of  a  sense  of  responsibility,  and  affects 
pupils  similarly.  It  places  honest,  sincere,  able 
teachers  at  the  mercy  of  unscrupulous,  vindictive, 
petty  tyrants. 

The  supervising  system  in  educational  work 
has  no  mitigating  features.  It  is  wholly,  abso- 
lutely, unqualifiedly  vicious.  Teaching  cannot  be- 
come a  profession  until  this  pernicious  system  is 
relegated  to  the  scrap  heap  of  obsolete  institutions. 

Democratic  ideals  are  not  easily  propagated  nor 
do  they  flourish  in  the  vitiating  environment  of 
school  bossism,  the  logical  concomitant  of  super- 
vision. But  the  teaching  of  democracy  inspiringly 
is  the  legitimate  and  principal  duty  of  the  teacher. 
Why  then  do  we  permit  the  existence  of  a  system 
which  largely  nullifies  or  prevents  the  real  work 
of  the  teacher  ?  Why  is  not  the  supervisory  system 
abolished  instanter?  It  must  be  understood  that 
the  system  is  bolstered  up  and  preserved  by  its 
actual  beneficiaries  who  are  at  the  same  time  its 
victims,  either  consciously  or  unconsciously,  and 
also  by  a  very  considerable  number  of  prospective 
beneficiaries.  This  element,  doubtless,  constitutes 
one  of  its  chief  supports.  Its  continual  existence 
is  likewise  due  to  the  apathy  of  people  generally,  in 

19 


regard  to  educational  work.  They  fail  miserably 
to  comprehend  the  scope  and  importance  of  school 
activities  as  a  whole.  The  education  of  the  public 
in  school  matters  is  the  immediate  task  before 
those  who  hope  to  give  an  impetus  to  democratic 
education  by  the  elimination  of  obstructing 
factors. 

But  if  the  supervisory  system  is  discarded,  what 
plan  of  procedure  is  to  be  adopted?  There  must 
be  some  form  of  school  organization,  some  method 
of  cooperation,  some  device  of  coordination.  It 
is  hardly  possible  for  an  individual  at  a  given 
moment  to  construct  or  outline  a  perfectly  satis- 
factory form  of  educational  procedure,  or  school 
organization.  This  can  only  be  approximated  by 
the  combined  efforts  of  many  interested  work- 
ers through  a  relatively  long  period  of  time.  But 
it  is  quite  feasible  to  initiate  a  working  basis  for 
a  new  departure. 

The  first  step  is  reasonably  clear.  There  must 
be  a  radical  change  in  the  training  and  selection 
of  teachers.  This  change  necessitates  a  clarified 
vision  with  reference  to  the  real  and  proper  aim 
of  education  for  all  children  alike.  Naturally, 
logically,  necessarily,  this  aim  is  the  development 
of,  the  attainment  of,  ideal  democratic  citizenship. 
From  this  fact  it  follows  that  those  boys  and  girls, 
men  and  women,  who  most  thoroughly  and  com- 
prehensively grasp  the  basic  principles  of  democ- 
racy, and  who  at  the  same  time  are  imbued  with 
the  desire  to  train,  to  instruct,  to  impart  knowledge, 
are  the  people  who  should  become  members  of 

20 


the  teaching  profession.  By  close  observation 
of  mental  processes  of  pupils  by  teachers — and  this 
is  surely  an  important  phase  of  teachers'  work — 
the  teacher's  judgment  should  become,  if  not  a 
determining  factor  in  estimating  the  qualifications 
for  prospective  teachers,  at  least  a  factor  for  careful 
consideration.  Teachers  may  also  render  valuable 
assistance  to  students  by  helping  them  find  them- 
selves, and  thus  avoid  mistakes,  which  not  infre- 
quently affect  years  of  life,  and  often  the  whole 
life.  Whether  or  not  any  fairly  intelligent  boy 
or  girl,  either  with  or  without  a  penchant  for 
teaching,  may  furnish  the  raw  material  out  of 
which  a  teachers'  training  school  is  able  to  manu- 
facture an  estimable  product  is  a  problem  not 
easily  solved.  Whether  teachers  are  born  or 
made,  it  is  an  undoubted  fact  that  not  a  few  people 
enter  the  teaching  ranks  with  slight  endowment 
or  acquirement  for  the  work,  with,  indeed,  little 
comprehension  of  the  real  nature  of  the  duty. 
Pedagogical  misfits  are  tragic  accidents,  and  con- 
stitute a  heavy  community  liability.  Their  op- 
portunities for  serious  mischief  are  numerous.  It 
is  essential,  therefore,  that  the  greatest  care  be 
exercised  in  the  choice  of  teachers.  Every  possible 
effort  must  be  made  to  keep  out  objectionable 
types.  People  who  believe  school  work  to  be  a 
business  enterprise,  who  consider  that  the  educa- 
tion of  children  should  be  entirely  utilitarian,  are 
dangerous.  People  w^ho  think  the  child  should  be 
hurried  in  the  choice  of  a  vocation  and  influenced 
in  the  matter  primarily  by  commercial  considera- 

21 


tions  are  not  safe  associates  for  children.  The 
superficially  educated  person  must  be  left  out  of 
consideration.  The  eligibility  of  what  is  usually 
called  the  self-made  person  is  questionable.  Close 
observers  will  find  that  the  self-made  man  is  possi- 
bly a  poorly  constructed  product.  The  individual 
who  supposes  the  acquisition  of  wealth  to  be  the 
chief  concern  of  one's  existence  is  not  a  salutary 
influence  in  the  schoolroom. 

But  through  what  agency  are  teachers  to  be 
employed?  What  method  is  to  be  adopted  to 
exclude  the  unfit,  to  insure  the  selection  of  the 
best  type  of  instructor?  Public  school  teachers 
are  employees  of  the  state,  or  a  subdivision  of  the 
state,  and  teachers  must  be  chosen  through  or  by 
government  regulations . 

The  method  used  must  be  essentially  demo- 
cratic. In  any  given  school  unit,  city,  town,  village, 
or  country  district,  the  whole  adult  population 
should  choose  by  regular  election  a  number  of 
representatives  whose  duty  it  would  be  to  choose 
teachers,  and  having  chosen  them  to  cooperate 
with  them  in  the  professional  work  of  teaching 
and  in  the  business  of  school  administration.  But, 
it  may  be  asked,  how  is  the  special  fitness  of  such 
a  council  to  be  determined,  and  the  answer  is 
included  in  the  larger  problem  concerning  the 
relation  which  should  exist  between  the  schools 
and  the  community  of  which  they  are  an  essential 
element.  This  elected  council  or  board  would 
necessarily  reflect,  in  a  degree  at  least,  the  char- 
acter of  the  citizen  body  electing  them.     This  is 

22 


always  true  of  elected  officials,  however  crude  and 
unsatisfactory  the  method  of  election  may  be. 
From  this  it  follows  that  the  electing  community 
should  possess  a  high  grade  of  intelligence  and 
probity.  Of  course  this  is  another  way  of  saying 
that  people  exercising  the  functions  of  democracy 
should  be  capable  of  self-government.  But  the 
point  to  be  emphasized  here  is  the  necessity  for 
great  care  in  the  selection  of  teachers,  if  children 
are  to  be  properly  taught,  and  are  to  secure  the 
sort  of  education  which  alone  makes  real  democ- 
racy possible.  At  present,  schools  are  practically 
isolated  from  the  rest  of  the  comjnunity.  They 
sustain  about  the  same  relation  to  it  that  wards 
for  patients  with  contagious  diseases  bear  to  the 
rest  of  the  hospital.  The  reason  for  this  isolation 
is  that,  in  the  minds  of  most  people,  schools  are 
places  to  educate  children,  and  their  notions  about 
the  educating  process  are  too  vague  for  descrip- 
tion. From  their  point  of  view,  the  youngsters 
go  regularly  to  a  building  called  a  school.  After 
a  number  of  years  spent  there,  they  end  the  pe- 
riod of  incarceration  by  a  jubilation  performance 
bearing  the  name  of  graduation  exercises,  and 
emerge  into  community  life  eager  for  the  serious 
business  of  making  a  living.  This  abnormal 
conception  of  education  must  be  combated  by  a 
vigorous  presentation  of  the  correct  view  which 
contemplates  no  termination  of  the  educational 
process.  It  should  be  continuous  throughout  life, 
varying  in  the  period  after  leaving  school  only  in 
form  and  method,  from  the  school  period.     It  is 

23 


true  that  in  a  general  sort  of  way  it  is  now  recog- 
nized that  people  continue  to  gain  knowledge  and 
training  after  school  days  are  ended,  and  that  long 
experience  results  in  the  acquisition  of  great  stores 
of  information,  but  it  is  equally  true  that  much, 
if  not  most,  of  the  educational  work  done  after 
leaving  school  is  largely  haphazard  and  aimless. 
Reading  is  desultory  and  done  by  many  wholly  or 
primarily  for  recreation  or  amusement.  While 
it  may  be  perfectly  proper  to  do  a  certain  amount 
of  such  reading  this  in  itself  is  certainly  not  suffi- 
cient. This  cannot  be  in  any  sense  a  substitute 
for  a  systematic  course  of  reading  and  study 
which  everyone  should  not  only  feel  compelled 
to  do,  but  should  keenly  enjoy  doing.  The 
numerous  and  varied  departments  of  useful  learn- 
ing are  inexhaustible  so  that  one  need  not  fear 
of  ever  being  without  interesting  and  instructive 
material  for  study,  however  long  one's  span  of  life. 
Now  it  will  readily  be  seen  that  this  plan  of  con- 
tinuous and  systematic  study,  extending  through 
life,  is  vastly  significant  for  many  reasons.  In 
the  first  place,  it  necessarily  keeps  the  learner, 
of  whatever  age,  in  syrapathy  and  in  contact  not 
only  with  the  teaching  body  proper,  but  also  with 
the  students  actually  in  school.  Besides,  with 
one's  faculties  fully  and  energetically  engaged  in 
the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  in  the  attainment 
of  discipline,  in  the  development  of  power  to 
think  intensively,  one  might  hope  in  time  to 
achieve  the  possibility  of  correctly  estimating 
the  true  value  of  those  things  which  now  engross 

24 


so  much  of  our  time  and  thought,  and  which  are 
relatively  so  unimportant.  One  might  learn  to 
minimize  the  import  of  material  objects,  and  to 
magnify  the  consequence  of  spiritual  concepts. 
In  short,  one  might  acquire  vision,  and  attain  the 
strength  of  character  which  would  enable  one  to 
live  instead  of  simply  drifting  aimlessly  to  the 
close  of  one's  earthly  existence,  as  so  many  people 
now  do.  Yes,  yes,  perhaps,  you  say  impatiently, 
but  what  tangible  connection  is  there  between 
this  approximately  ideal  state  of  living  and  the 
proper  method  of  employing  teachers,  the  question 
under  consideration?  The  connection  is  plain 
and  simple,  taking  the  form  of  association  and 
cooperation  between  the  school  and  the  commu- 
nity. But  a  beginning  in  this  direction  must  be 
made  by  intelligent  action  directed  toward  that 
end  on  the  part  of  those  who  see  the  necessity  of 
such  action.  Great  movements  do  not  start 
themselves  nor  do  they  usually  loom  very  large 
at  first.  Such  sporadic  efforts  as  have  been  made 
heretofore  to  establish  an  alliance  between  the 
schools  and  the  whole  citizen  body,  or  even  the 
parents,  have  had  slight  results,  if  any  at  all. 
What  is  needed  is  a  continuous,  systematic,  intel- 
ligently directed  effort  toward  a  perfectly  definite 
and  clearly  recognized  goal.  *** 

This  brings  up  the  question  of  teachers'  activi- 
ties outside  the  classroom.  A  most  regrettable 
aloofness  from  community  life  exists  on  the  part 
of  teachers,  generally.  This  aloofness  of  teachers 
is  partly  cause  and  partly  effect  of  the  isolation 

25 


of  the  schools.  It  is  both  voluntary  and  involun- 
tary, and  is  due  in  no  small  degree  to  the  false 
and  unreasoning  basis  of  social  distinctions,  and 
to  a  great  extent  to  the  lack  of  force  and  ability 
in  teachers. 

Teachers  as  a  group  have  no  social  prestige  and 
no  professional  standing.  Their  standing  is  all 
in  the  classroom.  Teachers,  then,  as  a  first  step 
in  ending  the  isolation  of  schools,  must  force  the 
recognition  of  their  work  and  of  themselves  by 
active  and  meritorious  participation  in  community 
life.  Having  effected  a  change  in  the  present 
abnormal  situation  by  the  inclusion  of  school  people 
in  the  rest  of  the  population,  teachers  must  then 
consider  it  incumbent  upon  themselves  to  compel 
the  community  to  accept  a  measure  of  responsi- 
bility for  educational  work,  must  cause  people  to 
recognize  their  obligation  in  the  direction  of  general 
social  improvement,  and  the  importance  of  schools 
as  a  powerful  factor  for  that  purpose.  Having 
once  established  a  salutary  condition  with  refer- 
ence to  the  relations  between  schools  and  the 
public,  the  whole  number  of  adults  in  any  commun- 
ity then  furnish  an  eligible  list  from  which  their 
fellows  may  elect  representatives  to  form  a  board 
of  education  prepared  to  render  efficient  service 
in  the  selection  of  teachers  and  in  cooperating 
with  them  in  school  administration. 

With  properly  qualified  teachers,  qualified  not 
only  so  far  as  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  is 
concerned,  but  from  the  standpoint  of  educational 
aims,  and  possessing  the  true  democratic  vision, 

26 


school  administration  may  be  greatly  simplified, 
and  the  emphasis  placed  where  it  properly  belongs, 
upon  the  actual  work  of  teaching.  The  volumi- 
nous, cumbersome,  and  useless  reports  which 
consume  so  much  time  and  energy  may  be  entirely 
eliminated.  Under  the  present  supervisory  sys- 
tem, teachers  are  often  quite  incapacitated  for 
educational  work  because  of  the  vast  amount  of 
useless  clerical  and  statistical  work  with  which 
they  are  burdened. 

The  supervisory  of^cials  adopt  the  most  asinine 
and  exasperating  of  all  possible  methods  in  pre- 
tending to  ascertain  the  relative  value  of  teachers' 
work.  Seemingly  convinced,  having  contributed 
so  largely  to  that  end,  that  the  teaching  morale  is 
at  the  lowest  ebb,  they  proceed  to  choose  the 
coarsest  and  most  humiliating  means  of  trying 
to  prove  their  theory.  Presumably  they  not 
infrequently  succeed. 

In  each  school  unit,  building,  the  administra- 
tive work  deemed  necessary,  indispensable,  by 
the  Board  of  Education,  should  be  performed  by 
the  whole  teaching  force  of  the  school,  being  appor- 
tioned by  mutual  agreement  of  the  teaching  staff. 
Under  such  conditions  the  esprit  de  corps  of  the 
teachers  might  be  safely  depended  upon  to  secure 
satisfactory  results  in  the  willing  performance  of 
equally  divided  labor.  The  board  of  education 
and  the  teachers  cooperating  intelligently  and 
sympathizingly  would  reduce  to  a  minimum  the 
obstacles  to  legitimate  educational  work.  The 
two    factors    working    together    through    elected 

27 


committees  would  provide  the  course  of  study, 
determine  the  required  time  for  the  completion 
of  a  given  amount  of  work,  decide  upon  the  length 
of  the  school  year,  the  salaries  of  teachers,  and  all 
other  relevant  matters,  including  the  requisite 
kind  and  amount  of  machinery  for  executing 
whatever  is  decided  upon. 

The  basic  reform  in  educational  work  is,  through 
the  abolishment  of  supervision,  the  equalization 
of  position  and  salary  for  teachers,  and  this  must 
come  from  the  intelligent  demand  of  teachers, 
seconded  by  the  public  sentiment  of  the  commu- 
nity. The  initiation  of  this  somewhat  radical 
departure,  so  necessary  to  the  best  interests  of 
all  concerned,  including  the  whole  hierarchy  of 
supervisors,  must  come  through  the  formulation 
of  a  w^orkable  plan,  and  its  submission  to  the 
board  of  education.  It  is  quite  useless  to  rail 
at  the  arrogance,  arbitrariness,  unreasonableness, 
and  injustice  of  school  ofificials,  whether  of  the 
employing  school  boards  or  of  the  employed  super- 
vising staff.  The  remedy  does  not  lie  in  joining 
labor  unions,  members  of  which  are  employed  by 
private  individuals  or  corporations  for  pecuniary 
profit.  As  to  snobbishness  as  a  cause  for  keeping 
away  from  labor  unions,  this  is  the  result  of  igno- 
rance and  folly  quite  as  reprehensible  as  that 
which  leads  others  into  unions  in  order  to  shift 
responsibility  from  their  own  shoulders  to  the 
unions.  It  is  not  difficult  to  distinguish  a  funda- 
mental difference  between  the  problem  of  the 
teacher  with  reference  to  the  employing  agency 

28 


and  that  of  the  labor  unionist.  The  teachers  are 
employees  of  the  state  and  as  citizens,  members 
of  the  state,  they  are  really  their  own  employers. 
They  are  part  of  the  body  they  are  chosen  to 
minister  to.  They  serve  the  community,  and  as 
they  are  members  of  the  community,  they  serve 
themselves.  The  purpose  of  the  teachers'  labor 
is  not  the  production  of  a  marketable  material 
product,  which  is  true  of  the  employee  of  the 
private  capitalist.  The  teacher  is  helping  to 
direct  rational  action  in  the  creation  of  spiritual 
values.  Teachers  in  uniting  with  a  labor  union 
to  effect  reform  are  rejecting  both  a  privilege  and 
a  duty  to  achieve  the  desired  rectification  through 
a  better  method,  namely  an  appeal  to  public 
sentiment  enlightened  by  the  teachers  as  to  the 
necessity  or  desirability  for  the  reform  advocated 
or  demanded. 

They  are  shirking  a  duty,  and  retarding  progress 
to  the  extent  that  the  measure  they  advocate  is  a 
genuine  reform  movement. 

The  evolution  of  democratic  education  requires 
that  all  teachers,  both  men  and  women,  should 
be  vitally  interested  in,  and  actively  identified 
with,  all  public  questions,  both  political  and  social, 
and  the  teachers  themselves  must  accept  respon- 
sibility for  needed  educational  reforms,  chief 
among  which  are  steps  leading  to  the  abolishment 
of  the  supervisory  system.  Intelligent,  vigorous, 
and  continuous  demand  for  its  elimination  will 
secure  it,  but  back  of  this  demand,  giving  to 
it   force   and    direction,  must    be    a   clear  recog- 

29 


nition  of  the  necessity  for  it,  and  a  vision    of  its 
meaning. 

Educational  reform  is  badly  needed  in  another 
direction,  closely  connected  with  and  a  part  of 
the  acceptance  of  the  principle  of  the  continuity 
of  the  educational  process  throughout  life.  This 
is  the  assumption  by  parents  of  their  own  legiti- 
mate part  in  the  training  of  their  children.  At 
present,  the  schools  are  seriously  handicapped, 
unable  to  perform  distinctively  school  service 
properly  because  they  are  attempting  to  take  over 
the  work  of  the  home.  To  such  an  extent  is  this 
done  that  the  schools  really  place  a  premium  upon 
the  shiftlessness  and  lack  of  a  sense  of  responsi- 
bility on  the  part  of  the  parent.  It  seems  to  be 
an  accepted  principle  of  pedagogy  that  teachers 
are  to  assume  the  entire  responsibility  for  the 
complete  training  and  development  of  the  child. 
Children,  wholly  undisciplined  at  home,  are  per- 
mitted to  deport  themselves  at  school  in  such  a 
way  as  to  test  most  severely  the  patience  and 
disciplinary  power  of  the  teacher,  and  if  the  teach- 
ers cannot  at  once  transform  the  viciously  inclined 
little  barbarians  into  the  most  attractive  cherubs, 
they  are  likely  to  incur  the  charge  of  being  poor 
disciplinarians.  Doubtless  many  teachers  become 
physical  wrecks  before  they  have  time  to  develop 
poise,  philosophy,  and  complete  self-command, 
simply  because  they  are  burdened  with  work  which 
legitimately  belongs  to  the  home,  and  for  which 
the  parents  should  be  forced  to  assume  the  re- 
sponsibility. 

30 


The  supervisory  system,  so  far  from  controlling 
the  situation,  only  aggravates  it.  If  teachers 
were  free  to  act,  their  own  common  sense  and 
initiative  would  find  a  remedy  in  many  cases.  In 
order  to  relieve  the  schools  of  the  work  of  parents, 
and  leave  them  free  to  do  their  own,  each  school 
unit  should  adopt  certain  requirements  with  which 
the  pupils  are  forced  to  comply,  without  annoy- 
ing teachers.  If  they  refuse  to  do  so,  they  should 
be  sent  home  to  their  parents,  who,  confronted 
with  compulsory  school  attendance  on  one  hand, 
and  school  regulations  on  the  other,  would  find 
themselves  obliged  to  conform  to  both,  to  the 
great  advantage  of  all  concerned. 

In  the  interests  of  pupils,  parents,  and  teachers, 
which  from  the  proper  point  of  view  are  the  same, 
it  is  necessary  to  force  cooperation  of  the  home 
with  the  school,  to  a  very  much  greater  extent 
than  it  now  exists.  Indeed  it  hardly  exists  at  all. 
There  is  absolutely  no  excuse  for  taxing  the  time 
and  energy  of  the  teaching  body  with  the  ordinary 
cleanliness  and  deportment  of  children.  Where 
the  parents  are  too  densely  ignorant  to  comprehend 
their  responsibility,  it  would  be  much  better  in 
every  way  to  teach  them,  and  then  compel  them 
to  act  in  accordance  with  their  newly  acquired 
knowledge.  If  the  schools  are  compelled  to  per- 
form the  task  of  the  home  in  addition  to  their 
own  duties,  they  cannot  discharge  either  properly, 
and  the  state,  the  whole  citizen  body,  suffers  a 
double  loss. 

The  urgent  need  for  a  thoroughly  revolutionized 
31 


public  school  system  must  be  apparent  to  anyone 
sufficiently  interested  to  give  the  subject  the 
slightest  consideration.  We  have  disgracefully 
blundered  on  too  long  already.  We  must  have 
universal  intensive  education,  and  first  it  is  neces- 
sary to  prepare  public  sentiment  to  demand  it. 
This  preparation  must  be  preceded  by  an  awaken- 
ing of  the  whole  teaching  body,  and  the  awakening 
is  primarily  the  task  of  the  few  who  are  already 
aroused.  No  failure  in  human  history  is  so 
glaring,  so  complete,  so  disastrous,  so  tragic,  as 
the  failure  of  educators.  They  who  from  the 
nature  of  their  work  should  be  pioneers  of  progress, 
leaders  in  every  advance  movement,  have,  with 
few  exceptions,  been  content  to  play  badly  a  very 
minor  part  in  the  great  drama  of  life.  Teachers 
generally  are  not  forceful,  alert,  nor  properly 
aggressive.  They  apparently  are  not  particu- 
larly helpful  in  the  community  in  which  they  live. 
It  may  be  claimed  that  through  their  influence 
in  the  schoolroom,  they  become  leaders  of  thought, 
molding  public  sentiment.  If  this  is  true,  there 
is  no  escape  from  the  conviction  that  they  are 
poor  leaders.  But  commonly  such  impression 
as  they  make  upon  pupils  in  the  classroom  is 
not  sufficiently  forceful  nor  original  to  become  a 
permanent  possession.  It  is  counteracted  by 
influences  outside  of  the  school  which  if  worse, 
or  not  so  good,  are  more  vigorous,  stronger,  more 
vital.  Negative,  timorous  teachers,  who  rarely 
make  excursions  beyond  the  textbooks,  and  who 
endorse  ready-made  opinions,    cannot   be  potent 

32 


factors  in  the  formation  of  character,  or  in  the 
shaping  of  opinion.  That  the  defects  and  limita- 
tions which  characterize  teachers  as  a  class  are 
not  due  primarily  to  lack  of  innate  ability,  but 
are  attributable  to  the  factory  system  of  school 
organization,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  This  system 
is  responsible  for  a  devitalized,  humdrum  class- 
room routine  which  undermines  the  character  of 
teachers,  and  prevents  or  retards  the  development 
of  character  in  pupils. 

That  teachers  should  be  a  living  power,  a  vital 
force,  not  only  in  the  classroom  but  in  the  com- 
munity, is,  of  course,  not  even  a  debatable  ques- 
tion. It  is  incumbent  upon  every  teacher  to 
execute  his  task  as  if  it  were  a  determining  agency 
in  the  welfare  of  the  state,  in  the  salvation  of 
humanity,  as  indeed  it  is.  We  remember  at  the 
battle  of  Marathon,  every  Greek  soldier  fought  as 
if  the  winning  of  the  combat  rested  upon  him, 
and  it  did.  This  is  obviously  true  of  every  en- 
counter, and  of  success  in  every  movement.  In- 
dividual endeavor  secures  results.  The  group  is 
always  a  collection  of  units,  the  state  an  aggrega- 
tion of  individuals,  and  organized  society  cannot 
approximate  its  attainable  best  until  the  individual 
men  and  women  who  compose  it  are  developed 
to  the  limit  of  their  natural  capacity  in  the  direction 
of  their  greatest  strength. 

At  this  point  comes  the  poignant,  humiliating 
thought  that  this  great  country,  so  rich  in  its  foun- 
dation, its  inherited  institutions,  and  limitless  in 
its  possibilities,  has  fallen  so  immeasurably  short 

33 


in  achievement.  We  rejoice  in  the  idealism  of 
our  compatriots  to  the  extent  that  it  exists,  but 
we  know  it  is  far  from  universal,  that  for  a  large 
number  of  our  inhabitants,  even  citizens,  there  are 
no  ideals.  They  merely  subsist  on  the  lowest 
or  very  nearly  the  lowest  plane  of  human  life, 
concerned  about  supplying  the  primitive  needs 
of  food,  raiment,  and  lodging,  to  which  may  be 
added  a  desire  for  strong  drink  and  the  movies, 
appetites  superinduced  by  a  pseudo-civilization. 

It  is  no  part  of  good  citizenship  or  true  patriot- 
ism to  refuse  to  recognize  shortcomings,  individual 
or  national,  or  to  attempt  to  derive  comfort  from 
the  result  of  a  comparison  of  our  country  with 
others.  The  comparison  may  seem  favorable 
to  us  but  this  does  not  prove  that  we  have  used 
our  opportunities  to  the  best  advantage,  that  we 
have  accomplished  our  best.  It  may  not,  and 
with  reference  to  some  nations  does  not,  show 
even  relative  superiority.  This  nation  had  a 
great  inheritance,  a  foundation  of  glorious  tradi- 
tions. Have  we  lived  up  to  those  traditions? 
Have  we  added  to  our  inheritance?  No  thinking 
person  familiar  with  the  facts  of  history  will 
maintain  that  our  progress  has  been  creditable. 
We  have  often  overemphasized  those  things  of 
least  importance  and  underestimated  essentials 
in  democratic  development.  We  have  permitted 
our  government  to  cheapen  and  lower  American 
citizenship  by  extending  the  franchise  to  hordes 
of  foreigners  who  have  no  conception  of  democracy, 
of   Americanism,    but    who    sought   America   for 

34 


purely  economic  reasons.  We  have  permitted 
these  alien  citizens  to  be  exploited  by  selfish 
interests  in  the  production  of  wealth,  unfairly 
distributed.  We  have  permitted  overwork  and 
underpay.  We  have  allowed  the  existence  of 
crass  ignorance,  poverty,  and  disease  among  the 
toilers.  We  have  endured  the  idleness  and  extrava- 
gance of  those  who  toil  not.  We  have  tolerated 
the  stupid  insolence  of  wealth,  the  possessors  of 
which  often  arrogantly  consider  themselves  a 
select  and  superior  class  whose  title  to  the  owner- 
ship of  the  earth  none  may  dispute. 
/The  unrest  and  bitterness  which  have  been  the 
inevitable  result  of  this  most  unsatisfactory  and 
unjust  situation  have  furnished  a  wide  and  fertile 
field  for  the  operation  of  the  demagogue  and  the 
unscrupulous  radical,  bent  only  upon  giving  the 
social  wheel  such  a  turn  as  will  bring  them  on  top 
regardless  of  the  general  welfare  of  society.  In 
addition  to  these  unprincipled  agitators,  there 
are  the  well-meaning  but  fundamentally  ignorant 
and  badly  balanced  social  reformers  who  are  la- 
boriously, ardently,  incessantly  engaged  in  social 
patchwork  of  a  distinctly  crazy-quilt  character. 
The  excited  attempts  of  these  social  marplots  to 
ameliorate  conditions  generally  may  do  much 
harm  but  they  are  an  inevitable  feature  of  the 
present  extremely  imperfect  social  order.  The 
only  way  to  eliminate  them  is  to  make  them  impos- 
sible by  initiating  such  fundamental  changes  as 
will  leave  no  room  for  their  makeshift  reforms^ 
Effects  never  fail  to  follow  causes  although  the 

35 


sequence  is  not  always  clear.  An  unwise  or  unjust 
government  policy  is  sure  to  bring  in  its  train 
innumerable  evils  difficult  to  eradicate,  and  we 
now  quite  naturally  find  that  the  toleration  of 
ignorance,  the  permission  of  class  legislation, 
obliviousness  to  the  various  manifestations  of 
injustice  and  wrong  are  decidedly  not  paying 
investments.  Bills  are  presented  for  collection, 
and  the  liquidation  of  the  debt  introduces  a  prob- 
lem not  easily  solved.  For  a  career  of  wrong  and 
folly  we  have  been  indicted  by  the  spirit  of  de- 
mocracy, tried  by  her  highest  tribunal,  found 
guilty  upon  an  overwhelming  volume  of  unim- 
peachable evidence,  and  sentenced  to  punishment, 
which  we  are  now  all  enduring.  This  punish- 
ment is,  of  course,  not  the  same  for  all  members 
of  society,  but  differs  in  its  nature  and  intensity 
for  each  class  of  the  varying  elements  which 
combined  constitute  the  whole  composite  social 
organism,  according  to  the  degree  of  ccsthetic, 
ethical,  and  spiritual  development  attained  by 
each.  The  sentence  imposed  by  the  court  of 
democracy  is  indefinite,  the  duration  depending 
upon  the  progress  attained  in  the  realization  of 
not  only  political  democracy,  but  industrial  and 
social,  likewise.  But  first  must  come  the  vision 
and  the  desire  for  its  attainment.  Hitherto, 
we  have  not  wanted  it,  we  have  had  no  conscious- 
ness of  its  value,  no  perception  of  its  significance, 
no  real  sense  of  its  need.  We  have  been  content 
with  words,  words,  meaningless  words,  without 
form,  without  content.     We  have  failed  to  com- 

36 


prehend  that  acts  of  injustice  cannot  be  committed 
with  impunity.  We  have  not  understood  that 
no  unit  in  the  collective  mass  may  be  neglected 
without  injury  to  the  whole,  that  not  a  single 
individual  may  be  criminal,  or  ignorant,  or  sordid 
without  vitiating  in  a  measure  the  life  of  the  state. 
It  would  be  rash  to  assume  that  any  considerable 
portion  of  the  whole  population  is  even  now  con- 
scious of  our  shortcomings,  individual  or  national. 
During  the  war  there  were  some  optimistic  souls 
who  looked  for  the  speedy  advent  of  the  millen- 
nium, but  people  are  not  often  shocked  into  sanc- 
tity or  decency  for  any  appreciable  length  of  time. 
Those  qualities  are  innate,  or  of  slow  growth. 
We  cannot  attain  results  without  effort.  The 
plans  of  anarchists,  socialists,  or  members  of  any 
other  cult  to  change  conditions  overnight,  to  make 
people  happy,  good,  useful  through  the  adop- 
tion of  their  particular  hobby,  must  be  heavily 
discounted.  People  cannot  be  legislated  into  the 
Republic  of  Heaven,  nor  achieve  perfection 
vicariously.  Heaven  is  attained  through  long 
preparation  in  the  form  of  honest  and  laborious 
work. 

The  establishment  of  democracy  can  come  only 
through  education.  Many  people  talk  glibly 
about  democracy  who  have  but  an  extremely 
vague  conception  of  its  real  meaning.  This  is 
especially  true  of  extreme  radicals  and  ultra-con- 
servatives. Both  of  these  groups  have  in  mind 
class  rule,  more  or  less  clearly  defined.  Rule 
of  the  proletariat  is  certainly  no  more  democratic 

37    ' 


than  rule  by  a  capitalistic,  or  wealthy,  class.  In 
fact,  the  very  existence  of  these  classes  consti- 
tutes a  negation  of  democracy.  Clearly  this  is 
true  of  industrial  democracy,  and  political  democ- 
racy would  almost  surely  be  followed  by  indus- 
trial. Both  the  radical  and  the  conservative  are 
astray  on  fundamentals.  Neither  has  the  correct 
viewpoint,  and  both  are  biased  by  class  conscious- 
ness. This  is  largely  because  both  alike  have 
practically  left  out  of  consideration  the  subject 
of  education  and  its  vital  importance  in  the  evolu- 
tion of  democracy.  The  ultra-conservative  resents 
what  he  considers  an  encroachment  upon  his 
prerogatives  and  he  knows  intuitively  that  the 
rumbling  of  discontent  presages  an  upheaval 
destined  to  be  of  far-reaching  significance  in  its 
effect  upon  the  social  order.  The  radical  glares 
with  violent  hatred  at  the  possessor  of  leisure, 
opulence,  and  social  prestige.  These  are  types 
and  each  is  superficially  light  because  they  are 
both  fundamentally  wrong.  They  are  right  in 
the  sense  that  they  are  what  they  inevitably 
must  be.  Their  attitude  is  ludicrous  and  at  the 
same  time  tragic.  Furthermore  it  is  fraught 
with  danger.  Whenever,  through  all  historic 
time,  those  two  opposing  forces  have  gone  into 
action,  things  have  happened.  It  reminds  one  of 
the  story  of  the  student  who  when  asked  what 
would  happen  if  an  irresistible  force  met  an  im- 
movable body  replied  that  "he  didn't  just  know, 
but  he  thought  it  would  knock  hell  out  of  things." 
It  is  so  sad  to  think  that  neither  the  upholder 
38 


of  the  old  system  nor  the  exponent  of  the  chang- 
ing order  has  been  able  to  discover  the  remedy  for 
his  troubles.  It  is  so  simple.  What  is  needed  is 
a  modification  of  the  two  types  of  the  social  order 
until  they  finally  blend  into  one,  and  equality — not 
identity — is  established  as  far  as  human  agency 
can  create  it.  The  alchemy  which  must  be  de- 
pended upon  to  effect  this  change  is  education,  not 
industrial,  not  vocational,  not  the  scrappy,  shal- 
low, soporific  time-killing  performance  we  now 
dignify  by  that  name,  but  that  training  which 
assists  mental  development  in  the  direction  of 
truth  and  the  attainment  of  spiritualness.  It 
must  aid  in  establishing  a  correct  standard  for 
measuring  values  through  the  application  of  com- 
mon-sense principles.  It  must  modify  the  glam- 
our of  social  prominence  and  official  position,  and 
teach  the  stupid  emptiness  of  social  distinctions 
which  have  no  basis  of  real  merit.  The  delusive 
effect  of  social  and  official  prestige  often  forms  an 
actually  disturbing  factor  which  tends  to  diveit 
from  the  achievement  of  high  purpose. 

Progress  in  the  direction  of  genuine  democracy 
must  come  through  educational  processes,  through 
the  consciously  directed  effort  of  the  individual 
along  the  line  of  clear  thinking,  and  lofty  aims 
crystallized  in  the  solid  achievement  of  correct, 
honest  living.  People  generally,  in  thinking  of 
reform,  seem  to  think  in  terms  of  mass,  society, 
the  State.  It  is  essential  that  we  learn  to  think 
of  the  individual  as  the  important  element  to 
be  considered,   reached,   made  right.     It  is  this 

39 


fact  which  makes  the  work  of  the  teacher  in  the 
classroom  so  vitally,  fundamentally  important. 
The  welfare  of  the  State,  the  aggregation  of  indi- 
viduals which  make  it,  depends  upon  the  character 
of  the  individual,  upon  the  thoroughness  with 
which  the  boys  and  girls  grasp  the  essentials  of 
good  citizenship  and  assimilate  them.  This  is 
accomplished,  not  through  a  superficial  knowledge 
of  a  few  isolated  facts  of  history  or  by  memorizing 
an  outline  of  civics,  but  through  the  conscious 
acceptance  and  the  living  realization  of  the  duties 
and  obligations,  no  less  than  the  rights  and  privi- 
leges of  citizenship.  Teachers  of  youth  frequently 
err  seriously  in  demanding  so  little  in  the  tasks  set 
for  pupils  that  the  latter  fail  to  realize  their  capac- 
ity for  work,  and  to  experience  the  satisfaction 
which  is  the  reward  of  good  work  accomplished 
through  great  effort.  Satisfaction  with,  commenda- 
tion of,  slight  exertion  and  small  achievement  on 
the  part  of  the  child,  the  pupil,  is  the  rule  according 
to  long  established  and  carefully  observed  tradi- 
tions, and  because  of  this,  many  valuable  years  of 
time  are  wasted.  The  pupil  consciously,  often 
maliciously,  fails  to  accomplish  anything  that 
even  remotely  approximates  his  best,  because  he 
knows  his  work  will  be  accepted,  and,  perhaps, 
applauded.  Where  little  is  expected,  and  less  de- 
manded, slight  indeed  is  the  performance.  This 
is  true,  both  in  conduct  and  study.  Whether  or 
not  this  is  due  to  the  total  depravity  of  human 
nature,  the  theologians  may  decide — to  their  own 
satisfaction,  if  so  inclined.     It  is  a  fact  of  human 

40 


experience.  The  failure  of  the  child  to  perform 
a  given  task  as  well  as  he  is  able,  whether  an  occa- 
sional lapse,  or,  as  it  is  likely  to  become,  a  fixed 
practice,  is  both  illogical  and  unethical.  We  have 
become  so  accustomed  to  the  observance  of,  and 
veneration  for,  unreasonable  traditions,  that  rep- 
utable speakers  sometimes  preface  their  talks 
to  children  with  some  story  of  their  own  youth- 
ful folly,  for  the  perpetration  of  which  there 
was  no  justification  for  them,  and  certainly 
would  be  none  for  their  hearers,  in  order  to 
establish  a  basis  of  friendly  understanding  be- 
tween them. 

A  large  part  of  the  teacher's  legitimate  work  lies 
in  making  the  pupil  comprehend  the  necessity  for 
the  willing  performance  of  hard  tasks,  and  the 
satisfaction  which  accompanies  solid  achievement. 
We  seem  afraid  of  accomplishing  too  much,  and 
often  hear  expressed  the  pernicious  sentiment 
that  too  much  must  not  be  expected,  in  connection 
with  some  activity.  Surely  there  is  neither 
reason  nor  sense  in  expecting,  or  willingly  accept- 
ing anything  but  the  best  attainable,  in  any  line 
of  endeavor.  Many  wrecked  lives  and  much  poor 
work  are  largely  due  to  youth's  failure  to  become 
enured  to  hardship,  to  be  trained  to  endure  un- 
pleasantness, to  learn  to  practice  exertion  which 
leads  to  success,  to  acquire  self-command,  self- 
reliance,  and  a  sense  of  responsibility,  to  gain  self- 
expression  in  its  highest  form,  that  is,  to  live. 
Youth  entering  upon  its  career  without  home 
discipline,    or   efficient   school   training,    becomes 

41 


driftwood  upon  life's  stormy  sea,  tossed  hither 
and  yon  by  every  untoward  circumstance. 

Powerless  to  row  against  the  current,  it  drifts 
with  it.  Pathetic,  indeed,  is  the  lot  of  the  help- 
less one,  and  great  the  guilt  of  parents  and  teachers 
who  are  primarily  responsible. 

The  tendency  to  applaud  and  the  constant 
practice  of  acclaiming  the  good  deeds  of  an  ele- 
ment of  the  population  as  representative  of  the 
whole,  are  altogether  reprehensible  as  they  conceal 
the  remissness  of  many,  and  tend  to  relieve  them 
of  a  sense  of  responsibility.  Neither  the  slacker, 
the  profiteer,  nor  the  traitor  in  any  other  form 
can  possibly  be  represented  by  the  patriot,  the 
worker.  The  two  classes  are  on  wholly  different 
planes  of  existence,  separated  seemingly  by  aeons 
of  time.  But  the  "average  citizen"  must  pre- 
sumably possess  some  of  the  attributes  of  the  two 
extremes;  therefore,  the  average  citizen  must  in 
terms  of  ideal  democratic  citizenship  be  rated 
low.  In  a  democracy  there  is  no  place  for  aver- 
ages. The  two  things  are  so  incompatible  that 
they  cannot  exist  together.  "Eternal  vigilance" 
is  the  price  of  liberty,  but  this  vigilance,  to  be 
fully  effective,  must  be  exercised  in  the  education 
of  youth,  and  continued  by  the  individual  men 
and  women  through  life,  for  individual  liberty  is 
secure  only  through  democracy,  which  is  ruled  by 
all  the  people,  but  all  of  the  people  do  not  rule, 
cannot  rule,  unless  they  possess  certain  qualifica- 
tions. We  may  have  a  government  mixture  of 
autocracy,  oligarchy,  timocracy,  mobocracy,  and 

42 


democracy,  and  name  the  composition  democracy, 
but  unless  the  individual  citizens  who  compose 
the  State  are  trained,  alert,  capable,  they  will 
have  no  real  part  in  government.  The  functions 
of  government  may  be  carried  on  in  the  name  of 
the  people  when  a  very  small  proportion  of  them 
form  the  active  principals  or  participants,  meaning, 
of  course,  such  participation  as  a  representative 
democracy  contemplates.  A  very  essential  part 
of  the  training  for  citizenship  is  in  the  acquisition  of 
profound  knowledge,  familiarity  with  the  history, 
the  literature,  and  philosophy  of  past  civilizations. 
Enlightenment  must  be  included  among  the  civic 
virtues  to  ensure  the  establishment  of  a  just  govern- 
ment, and  much  more  is  it  required  to  perpetuate 
it.  The  ignorant,  however  virtuous,  are  in  con- 
stant danger  of  becoming  the  dupes  or  victims  of 
vicious  elements  which,  through  organization 
and  the  arts  of  trickery  and  deceit  practiced  by 
the  unscrupulous,  may  secure  control  of  the  govern- 
ment. When  this  happens^  the  result  is  corrup- 
tion, inefficiency,  and  general  disaster  for  the  best 
interests  of  the  whole  people,  and  a  severe  test  of 
the  nominal  democracy.  We  hear  much  about 
trained  leadership,  the  necessity  for  training  lead- 
ers, but  a  democracy  requires  such  preparation 
for  all  its  citizens  as  will  fit  them  for  leadership. 
Those  essentially  unfit  for  leadership,  are  poorly 
prepared  to  choose  leaders,  and  the  government 
is  likely  to  degenerate  into  a  close  corporation. 
Education  which  prepares  for  democracy  carries 
with  it  the  idea  of  control  of  government  by  all 

43 


the  people,  literally.  It  connotes  not  only  a 
claim  to  rights  and  privileges  but  a  very  vital 
sense  of  duty  and  responsibility  for  each  and  all. 
To  most  people,  at  present,  the  government  is  a 
far-away,  vague  sort  of  institution  which  is  to  be 
blamed  when  things  go  wrong.  Otherwise,  their 
connection  with  it  is  extremely  remote,  and  their 
interest  in  it  very  slight. 

The  word  government  may  be  correctly  used 
in  two  senses.  Written  with  a  big  G  it  means  all 
the  people,  the  people  whose  duty  it  is  to  control 
it,  and  to  be  responsible  for  it.  Written  with  a 
small  g,  it  means  the  group  of  administrative 
officials  chosen  by  the  voters  to  put  into  operation 
their  policies  with  reference  to  all  domestic  affairs 
and  foreign  relations.  It  is  the  agent  of  the  people, 
responsible  to  them,  and  for  which  they  are  re- 
sponsible to  themselves,  each  to  all,  and  all  to 
each.  The  aloofness  of  the  people  from  their 
government  is  comparable  to  their  aloofness  from 
the  schools,  and  in  one  case  they  are  as  culpable 
as  in  the  other.  It  is  the  immediate  task  of  the 
teachers  to  make  them  comprehend  their  proper 
relation  to  both. 

The  basic  difficulty  in  establishing  genuine 
democracy  lies  in  the  fact  that  comparatively  few 
have  the  democratic  vision,  and  really  believe 
in  democracy.  Many  persons  are  horribly  afraid 
of  democracy.  Some  are  sentimentally  opposed 
to  it.  From  their  point  of  view  it  lacks  variety 
and  picturesqueness.  Such  people  in  thinking 
of  social  and  political  questions  invariably  think 

44 


in  terms  of  classes,  and  with  reference  to  change, 
reform,  they  think  of  a  more  or  less  violent  or 
sudden  social  upheaval  which  will  bring  upper- 
most, or,  at  least,  on  the  same  social  plane  as 
themselves,  the  "lower  classes."  Needless  to 
say,  such  thinkers  have  no  comprehension  of  the 
thorough  and  universal  training  and  education 
which  alone  make  democracy  possible.  "The 
cure  for  the  ills  of  democracy  is  more  democracy" 
may  be  expanded  into — The  elimination  of  the 
objectionable  features  of  a  nominal  democracy 
will  come  through  the  education  which  qualifies 
for  real  democracy,  and,  therefore,  education  is 
the  vital  and  fundamental  problem  of  a  democratic 
State. 

"Where  there  is  no  vision,  the  people  perish," 
but  the  vision  must  be  individual.  He  or  she 
who  has  no  vision  is  a  failure.  The  training  con- 
sidered indispensable  for  leaders  must  be  all- 
inclusive.  It  is  requisite  for  all.  No  exclusion 
is  democratic.  As  to  whether  or  not  all  people 
have  equal  natural  ability  has  nothing  whatever 
to  do  with  the  question  of  equal  and  intensive 
training  for  all.  If  there  are  those  who  possess 
less  natural  ability  than  others,  logically  they 
demand  greater  consideration  in  educational  pro- 
cesses in  order  to  overcome  the  handicap.  We 
cannot  remember  too  thoroughly  that  equality 
and  identity  are  not  the  same.  Victor  Hugo  long 
ago  found  it  necessary  to  emphasize  the  distinc- 
tion in  discussing  the  equality  of  men  and  women. 
At  the  present  time  we  have  absolutely  no  satis- 

45 


factory  data  to  show  that  in  a  given  environment, 
with  the  same  degree  of  training,  people  are  not 
equal,  neither  have  we  any  data  to  prove  they 
are.  The  question  of  natural  equality  may  safely 
be  left  to  nature  as  it  has  no  bearing  at  all  upon 
the  necessity  for  equal  cultural  advantages  for 
everyone.  We  apply  the  scientific  principle  of 
intensive  cultivation  to  the  raising  of  wheat  and 
corn.  Why  withhold  it  from  the  training  of 
human  beings?  The  objectors  to  "wasting"  edu- 
cational advantages  for  all  alike  are  influenced 
largely  by  the  relatively  unimportant  fact  that  in- 
tensive education  may  mean  increased  taxation, 
and  at  the  same  time  higher  remuneration  for 
educated  workers,  but  they  forget  that  this  pecu- 
niary expenditure  will  be  overbalanced  by  the 
elimination  of  human  waste.  They  fail  to  realize 
that  even  from  the  most  material  point  of  view, 
schoolhouses  are  cheaper  than  prisons,  and  teach- 
ers less  expensive  than  criminal  lawyers.  But 
the  opposition  of  most  of  the  objectors  to  real 
democracy,  for  which  educational  equality  or 
equal  educational  advantages  must  largely  pave 
the  way,  is  based  upon  their  dread  of  the  pass- 
ing of  the  old  order,  of  the  disappearance  of  the 
castle  and  the  thatched  roof,  of  the  squire  and 
the  peasant,  or  the  American  equivalent,  the 
mansion  and  the  hovel,  the  millionaire  and  the 
wage  slave.  Now  this  mediaeval  type  of  mind 
might  force  itself  to  become  reconciled  to  the 
absence  of  antiquated  institutions  were  it  possible 
for  it  to  visualize  the  significance  of  impending 

46 


changes.  There  are  new  and  important  elements 
in  our  industrial  and  political  life  which  may  in 
a  short  time  become  the  determining  factors  in 
momentous  changes  in  the  national  life.  The 
"labor  element"  is  already  a  possible  dominant 
factor,  and  the  steadily  increasing  newly  enfran- 
chised women  constitute  an  uncertain  quantity, 
both  politically  and  industrially.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  both  of  these  classes  have  been 
unaccustomed  to  the  exercise  of  great  power,  and 
it  is  no  reflection  upon  either  to  recognize  the 
possibility  of  their  becoming  impressionable — even 
inflammable — material  under  the  influence  of  the 
demagogue  and  the  irresponsible  reformer.  It 
is  true  the  laborer  is  not  a  new  voter,  but  no  care- 
ful observer  fails  to  understand  that  his  status 
is  changed  and  that  the  laborer  is  becoming  in- 
creasingly and  acutely  conscious  of  the  change. 
These  new  factors  in  the  political  life  of  the  country 
constitute  an  additional  reason  for  new  educational 
emphasis,  for,  if  properly  trained,  they  will  add 
greatly  to  the  stability  of  the  State;  if  neglected, 
they  may  be  a  source  of  great  danger.  Intensive 
universal  education,  therefore,  is  not  only  a  pre- 
requisite to  democracy,  and  an  ethical  require- 
ment, but  is  in  line  with  the  sanest  possible 
philosophy. 

In  view  of  the  present  world  cataclysm,  and 
the  lessons  which  it  should  teach,  we  must  empha- 
size anew  the  indispensableness  of  education,  but 
democratic  education,  that  which  prepares  pri- 
marily   for    citizenship.     A    certain    amount    of 

47 


vocational,  of  industrial  training  may  be  necessary. 
Indeed,  a  very  large  amount  may  be  desirable, 
but  care  must  be  exercised  in  keeping  it  subor- 
dinate to  the  intellectual  and  moral  education 
for  which  it,  in  no  way,  from  no  point  of  view, 
can  be  made  a  substitute.  Let  children  be  trained 
for  industry  by  all  means,  but  first,  in  time,  and 
first  in  importance,  train  their  souls  and  their 
minds.  Give  them  an  opportunity,  all  the  time 
required,  for  broad,  general  culture,  for  acquaint- 
ance with  the  literature,  the  history,  and  the 
scientific  achievements  of  the  past.  Help  them 
to  evolve  a  sane  philosophy  of  life,  remembering 
they  are  first  of  all  sentient  beings,  citizens  of  the 
State,  social  units,  with  infinite  possibilities,  that 
they  emphatically  are  not  primarily  factors  in 
the  production  of  wealth  nor  cogs  in  the  wheels 
of  an  autocratic  State  machine. 

The  keynote  of  the  future  must  be  a  recogni- 
tion of  the  vital  importance  of  the  individual,  an 
enlarged  conception  of  social  responsibility  and  a 
clarified  vision  of  relative  values.  Materialism 
and  higher  civilization  are  incongruous.  "Ye 
cannot  serve  God  and  Mammon,"  is  a  simple 
and  emphatic  form  of  stating  a  vital  truth.  You 
cannot  worship  material  things  and  appreciate 
spiritual  values.  Wealth  is  relatively  unimpor- 
tant. Very  little  of  it  suffices  for  the  contentment 
and  happiness  of  the  properly  developed  man  or 
woman/ 

In  the  correct  education  of  youth  it  is  necessary 
to  minimize  the  relative  importance  of  wealth, 

48 


to  discourage  eagerness  to  accumulate  it,  to  treat 
with  disapprobation  any  such  attempt  which  in 
any  way  involves  a  sacrifice  of  higher  values.  In 
the  future  the  establishment  of  justice,  with  all 
which  that  connotes,  must  be  the  slogan,  and 
surely  providing  equal  opportunity  for  all  is 
included.  To  say  that  this  means  universal, 
intensive  education,  is  simply  to  state  an  elemental 
fact.  To  set  in  operation  forces  necessary  to 
establish  the  principle  of  justice  as  the  basis  of  all 
political,  industrial,  and  social  movements,  does 
not  require  a  violent  upheaval  in  the  established 
order,  but  it  does  necessitate  a  fundamental  change 
in  educational  processes  and  in  industrial  devel- 
opment. It  does  require  the  vision  to  understand 
that  the  mental,  moral,  and  spiritual  development 
of  the  individual,  of  all  the  individuals  who  together 
make  the  State,  is  of  paramount  importance.  It 
is  necessary  to  realize  that  children  may  not  be 
deprived  of  educational  advantages  for  economic 
reasons,  that  they  must  not  be  exploited  in  the 
accumulation  of  material  gain  for  a  few.  To  coin 
the  lifeblood  of  the  weak  into  gold,  and  then 
toss  the  wreck  to  the  care  of  organized  charity 
is  not  to  be  longer  endured.  The  extremes  of 
poverty  and  wealth,  palaces  and  huts,  continuous 
leisure  and  endless  toil  are  the  negation  of  democ- 
racy, of  justice,  of  humanity.  They  are  incom- 
patible with  a  civilization  worthy  of  the  name. 
To  establish  justice  demands  no  demonstration 
of  force,  no  destruction  of  property,  no  great 
sacrifice  for  any  individual  or  group,  but  it  does 

49 


require  a  changed  emphasis,  the  cessation  of  vul- 
gar display,  the  evolution  of  a  new  order. 

The  fastidious  to  whom  the  proximity  of  the 
uncouth  toiler  is  odious  must  learn  that  the  solu- 
tion of  their  difficulty  lies  not  in  rejecting  the 
comradeship  of  the  man  or  woman,  but  in  refining 
and  humanizing  the  objectionable  type.  There 
must  be  a  coalescence  of  the  various  elements  of 
the  State  in  a  bond  of  equality,  not  identity. 

This  is  no  visonary  scheme.  Its  inauguration 
requires  only  the  practical  application  of  common- 
sense  principles  to  the  affairs  of  life.  It  involves 
not  simply  the  intellectual  perception  of  the  very 
elementary  fact  that  ignorance,  poverty,  and  physi- 
cal deterioration,  which  inevitably  follow  igno- 
rance and  poverty,  are  not  a  national  asset,  but 
such  acute  realization  of  the  fact  as  will  cause 
acceptance  of  responsibility  for  the  removal  of 
ignorance  and  poverty. 

If  we  are  to  have  real  democracy,  we  must 
provide  the  indispensable  conditions  for  its  exist- 
ence, and  these  are  the  possession  of  thorough 
knowledge  and  the  practice  of  virtue  by  each  and 
every  member  of  the  State.  This  is  the  period  of 
world  reconstruction  which  requires  all  the  intel- 
ligence, wisdom,  philosophy,  and  virtue  obtainable 
everywhere.  The  process  of  reconstruction  must 
extend  through  an  indefinite  period,  and  this  is 
an  opportune  occasion  for  beginning  to  place 
special  emphasis  upon  civic  training,  and  teachers 
should  be  inspired  by  the  consciousness  that  theirs 
is    the    high    privilege   of    rendering    inestimable 

50 


service  in  establishing  democracy,  and  the  rule 
of  justice  throughout  the  world.  The  need  of 
this  hour  and  of  all  future  time  is  men  and  women 
of  broad  vision,  high  ideals,  strong  convictions, 
and  dauntless  courage.  Doubtless  when  the 
limits  of  our  present  vision  have  been  reached, 
new  vistas  of  progress  will  afford  the  impelling 
motive  to  greater  endeavor  and  higher  achievement. 


51 


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